Grant, whose political career has survived numerous challenges, said the judge's report supports his contention that he has done nothing wrong.

``It's kind of like you can breathe now that the mask is off,'' Grant said during a news conference at Town Hall. ``You don't have to tiptoe, tiptoe down the road. We can just walk down the road and keep our head up high.''

Grant said he hopes the report will allow him to ``continue what I am doing, representing the town of Eatonville, without a dark cloud being over my head.''

State Administrative Law Judge Carolyn Holifield's 17-page recommendation will go to the Florida Commission on Ethics, which will make a final decision on whether to pursue the charges against the three-term mayor of this small town.

The ethics commission charged that Grant backdated voter registration cards in 1995 in an attempt to help a political ally win a seat on the Town Council. The nine-member panel also alleged that he ordered town workers to draft a false affidavit to cover up the backdating.

An attorney for the ethics commission, Eric Scott, said Monday that he had not seen the judge's order. Scott acknowledged that the state's case was hurt when a key witness, former secretary Tammy Stafford, couldn't be located to testify at an Orlando hearing on the ethics allegations Sept. 11.

As a result, Scott agreed to drop one of the charges facing Grant: an allegation he used a town computer to create political campaign materials.

``Without her, it was all hearsay. I couldn't get the [charge) in,'' Scott said. As far as the other two allegations, Scott said, ``It just came down to who the judge believed.''

Scott said he hasn't decided whether to pursue the charges.

He has 15 days to decide.

In her report, Holifield said ethics lawyers failed to prove Grant tampered with the voter cards and used his official position for political gain - both of which must be established to find guilt under the state's code of ethics.

The state also failed prove Grant ordered a worker to prepare and falsely notarize an affidavit about the incident, the judge wrote.

The allegations grew from investigations launched in 1994 by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney's Office into charges Grant bought votes and was part of a failed effort to get a topless bar in Eatonville.

Prosecutors eventually decided not to file criminal charges against Grant and turned over results of their investigation to the state ethics panel.

Meanwhile, Grant survived political challenges and narrowly escaped a petition recall drive. He handily won a third term for the $19,000-a-year post in March, despite the public release of the ethics allegations a month earlier.